Jilly Jam

We are so lucky to live down the road from a wonderful orchard that not only provides scrumptious peaches in the summer but also strawberries. Jilly and I met a friend last Friday to pick a few and were generously rewarded. Last year we had to hunt and pick through several bushes to find perfect berries, but this year, we were able to pull off multiple berries from the same bush and didn't have to move much beyond one small section.

JillyBean had a lot of fun this year, too. Last year she wouldn't pick the strawberries and only wanted to carry the basket around with her. This year she didn't want to stop.
She even ate a few, which was something new. When she was a year old she loved strawberries but I haven't been able to get her to try one since. She loves strawberry ice cream, cake, smoothies, lollipops, etc., but would never eat the actual fruit. She wouldn't stop this time.

We brought home our load and used some to make fruit pops and some to make strawberry jam. I had never made jam before but it was actually so simple that I think we will do more. Jilly had the important task of mashing up the berries and she did a wonderful job.
We made 9 half pints of jam, but two didn't seal properly. We kept one and gave the other to a friend who said they would be able to eat it right away. Jilly has assigned "homes" to the remaining 7 jars so, if you're lucky, a jar of Jilly Jam will be coming your way soon.